Putting On My Oxygen Mask—Gifts to Myself for the New Year

We all know the safety drill on airplanes…if there is a sudden loss of pressure, an oxygen mask will appear in front of you. When it does, you must put it on and adjust it before doing anything else. You will have plenty of time to help those around you. If you do not follow this advice, you jeopardize everything, including the lives of those around you and your own. It is great advice for our everyday lives as well, but one we often ignore. So, before I make my resolutions for 2013, I am going to put on my oxygen mask.

I give myself the gift of routine

When I first started my 50-by-50, I wrote a lot about getting enough sleep, drinking enough water, eating regular meals, exercising regularly, and similar routine things. These routines are essential to a happy and healthy life. I love excitement and occasional disruptions to my routine, but without the routine itself, I lose my center and lose balance in my life. I am finally at a place where many of these routines are settling around me and providing me with the support I need to be a healthy, happy adult who has more than enough capacity to be available for the needs of my family, friends, work, and non-profit work. So, I give myself the gift of routine. May it make me a stronger, happier, more giving person.

I give myself the gift of fun and fitness

I have built up, very slowly, to my fitness routine. I went through the C25k program and then onto a regular running routine. I’ve added walking on my days off as I’ve focused on weight-loss. This has worked for me, and I am often compelled to work-out out of some newly in-borne need. But, I cannot say it is truly fun. So, especially during the dark days of winter, I will find fun that is also exercise. I will dance to Just Dance IV which I bought for my younger daughter, and I will fence. Yes, I signed my younger daughter and I up for beginning fencing lessons at a local community college. A friend and her daughter are joining us. We will have so much fun! I give myself the gift of fun and fitness. May it make me more joyful and infused with life.

I give myself the gift of forgiveness and do-overs

Like most people, I am harder on myself than on others. When I fail, I often feel like giving up. I’ve learned, however, that there is no point in beating myself up over my failures. As Thomas Edison famously said about his attempts to refine the light bulb, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”  So, I will try to look at my failures as evidence that I am willing to try new things and not give up when they don’t work. Edison also said, “Many of life’s failures are people who did not know how close they were to success when they gave up.” I do not want to be someone who could have succeeded if I’d only tried one more time. Several times in my life, I tried to be a runner, and I failed. I even tried early in my 50-by-50 and didn’t get it quite right. By trying a new way, this time I succeeded. So, I will try again, in different ways, to reach my goals this year. I give myself the gift of forgiveness and do-overs.

Find the Joy in the Journey…and don’t forget to put your own oxygen mask on first!

Not Ready for Resolutions–Yet

New Years Eve…I’m spending it as I always do, at home. I usually last until about 10 or 11…no reason to really stay up until 12. We have picked up some traditions along the way. We love watching movies or several episodes of our current obsession…this year it is White Collar and we are wrapping up season 2.  When it gets close to midnight (aka 10 p.m.) we break out the bubbly…grape juice. I find it far too sweet to enjoy, but the kids think it’s fun. One other tradition we picked up from a Spanish friend is to eat a grape at each chime of the church bells at midnight. Apparently it brings luck for the coming year.

In our family, however, we have a traditional New Year’s Day meal which goes back to my grandparents and this year my son asked me to teach him to make it. The recipe was given to my grandmother, a woman of Welsh descent, by her German neighbor. The basic ingredients are pork and sauerkraut…a German tradition via the Pennsylvania Dutch.  Here is the recipe, probably written down for the first time, by my mother, who learned it from her mother-in-law. We made it together and even though the recipe is vague, I learned how to make it. Tomorrow I will teach it to my son and, if they wish, my girls too.  In this way I will pass on the tradition to bring good luck to the coming year.

When I was little, I hated every ingredient individually, but somehow when it was mixed together, it was divine and I loved it. My children have had a similar learning curve. First, I cut up the pork and onions. After the pork is well started, onions go in. Adding Crushed tomatoes and sauerkraut finishes the basic stew. After whipping up some dumplings and cooking them on top of the stew, I remove the dumplings and stir in sour cream. I’ve had it every New Year’s day that I can recall, so we will have it again tomorrow and start our year off with good luck.

Once I’ve enjoyed all my family traditions, I will get to work on my resolutions. I haven’t given too much thought to them, other than knowing that 2013 will be a year of letting go of what is no longer useful, meaningful, or beautiful and cultivating that which is. As I wrote, earlier this week, in Time to Lighten My Load, it will be a year of much de-cluttering.

I have only 11 months left in this 30-month project, so wrapping up my 50-by-50 will be part of my resolutions. So will be figuring out what comes next. But before all of that, I have to look back over 2012 and see what worked and what didn’t; a project in and of itself.

So, as I await the moment to ring in 2013, I am ready to say farewell to the past and hello to the next stage of my life…which I hope includes a few more clues from my “inner child”, whom I met just the other night and wrote about in How I Met My Inner Child.

Find the Joy in the Journey…and may 2013 be YOUR best year yet!